Road Trip to Mississippi Ends in Sunday Victory

Road Trip to Mississippi Ends in Sunday Victory
Box Score

Team Stats

February 23, 2020

By Mike DeVader, Reinhardt Director of Athletic Communications & Media

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The Eagles completed their first three-game sweep of the season after taking control in the middle innings against William Carey (Miss.) and never looking back in a 7-3 decision in Hattiesburg, Miss., Sunday afternoon.

Reinhardt is now 9-3 after taking three-consecutive victories from the Crusaders on their home field over the weekend.

"Good teams win two of three, great teams sweep," head coach Jonathan Burton said. "To do the things we want to do, when a sweep is there we have to get it. Our offensive approach was much better today and our pitching was solid again. I'm probably most proud of our bench play, as many different faces came up big for us today. That should benefit us moving forward as the games begin to rack up."

Albert Mora was able to get his club on the board early with a first-inning single to shallow right field. The Crusaders, however, tied the game on a base-hit of their own in the bottom of the third – only to watch the visitors regain the advantage in the fourth, 2-1, following a Gianmarco Marcelletti ringing double to left-center.

The momentum would continue into the fifth for Reinhardt, as a wild throw by William Carey and a single to shallow center by Keven Jimenez pushed the Eagles' lead to 4-1. The lead was cut by the Crusaders on a double down the line in the bottom of the fifth frame, and then the back-and-forth affair put up another tally in the top-half of the sixth after M.J. Arnold smacked one to the outfield.

Now up, 5-2, after the aforementioned hit by Arnold in the sixth frame, the hometown squad stretched its cushion to five runs in the eighth with a pair of scores on an Isaiah Arnold single and a miscue in the field.

The hosts continued to chip away at their deficit with a solo shot in the bottom of the eighth to make the score 7-3, but couldn't string any more runs together the rest of the way. 

Mora went 4-for-5 and both Marcelletti and M.J. Arnold (two walks) grabbed a pair of hits each.

Chandler Gant got the win after two innings of work and two strikeouts.

A road showdown with No. 5 Georgia Gwinnett is up next on Tuesday night at 6 p.m.

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